A new wave of investors is using impact investing to address some of the greatest challenges of our time - from climate change and water scarcity to lack of access to health care, education, and affordable housing - with the intention of also generating a financial return. This couldn’t happen at a more critical time. While philanthropy continues to be a transformative force for good, global philanthropic funds, even when combined with the development or aid budgets of many national governments, add up to mere billions of dollars. Meanwhile, the cost of solving the world’s problems runs into the trillions. In The Power of Impact Investing, Rockefeller Foundation president Judith Rodin and Margot Brandenburg, two of the foremost experts in the field, explain what impact investing is, how it compares to philanthropy and traditional investments, where opportunities are evolving around the world, and how to get started. By sharing moving stories of impact investors and the exciting social enterprises benefiting from these investments, Rodin and Brandenburg offer a compelling resource for anyone interested in better understanding the power of impact investing - including retail investors, high-net-worth individuals, and heads of family offices, foundations, banks, and pension funds—while also offering experienced impact investors an opportunity to deepen their knowledge and benefit from the perspectives of other investors. Gildan Media is proud to bring you another Wharton Digital Press Audiobook. These notable audiobooks contain the essential tools that can be applied to every facet of your career. 1. Language: English. Narrator: Karen Saltus. Audio sample: http://samples.audible.de/bk/gdan/001308/bk_gdan_001308_sample.mp3. Digital audiobook in aax.

Dark waters are rising. Who will stay afloat? Architect Vance Nolan has crafted a marvel - shining apartments floating in the peaceful cove of a winding river. The project is partially occupied and about to make investors rich when a sinkhole gives way. Torrential rains quickly flood the cove, leaving a handful of builders, investors, and residents cut off from the rest of the world. The motley group is bitterly divided over how to survive. Vance insists they wait for rescue. Developer Tony Dean wants to strike out into the darkness. And single-mom Danielle Clement, obligated to each man and desperate to protect her young son, Simeon, isn’t sure which one is wiser. Power failure, an unnatural daytime darkness, explosions, and a murder expose hidden intentions and dark histories. Then Simeon spots something strange underwater - beautiful, shifting lights in the dark depths. In this watery world, everyone’s secrets will eventually come to light. And deliverance may mean more than just getting out alive. Another stunning exploration of the human spirit and supernatural possibilities from best-selling author Erin Healy. 1. Language: English. Narrator: Nan Gurley. Audio sample: http://samples.audible.de/bk/tnwd/000319/bk_tnwd_000319_sample.mp3. Digital audiobook in aax.

Nick Jorgensen is a quirky genius. He´s made a fortune in the competitive high-tech field with his quick mind and attention to detail. He believes in hard work and trusting his gut. And he believes in karma. It’s the only thing that makes sense. People are difficult, but numbers never lie. In the disastrous wake of a broken engagement to an investor’s daughter, Nick is more certain than ever he isn’t relationship material. Wes Conrad owns a thriving winery in Napa Valley. The relaxed atmosphere is a welcome departure from his former career as a high-rolling businessman. Wes’s laid-back nature is laced with a fierceness that appeals to Nick. In spite of his best intention to steer clear of complications, Nick can’t fight his growing attraction to the sexy older man who seems to understand him. Even the broken parts he doesn’t get himself. However, when Wes’s past collides with Nick’s present, both men will have to have to decide if they’re ready to lean into the ultimate fall. 1. Language: English. Narrator: Nick J. Russo. Audio sample: http://samples.audible.de/bk/acx0/108579/bk_acx0_108579_sample.mp3. Digital audiobook in aax.

The Magic of Tiny Business: You Don´t Have to Go Big to Make a Great Living Too many of us feel trapped by work that doesn´t allow us to live our purpose, feed our passions, or use our gifts. We fantasize about starting our own business, but we´re told this will mean going deeply into debt, spending years working 80 hours a week, and coping with the relentless pressure to grow. Eco-Bags founder Sharon Rowe says there´s another way: go tiny. She is here to show you how. Tiny isn´t a size - it´s a state of mind. Like a tiny house, a tiny business is built on maintaining a laser focus on what is absolutely essential to you. It´s defined by your priorities and intentions, not by how many employees you have. As a young mother with a newborn child, what mattered to Rowe when starting Eco-Bags Products was having a flexible schedule, time for her family (one of her mantras was ´´Never miss a school play”), time for herself, financial security and doing something that made the world a better place. Lacking an angel investor and starting from scratch, with limited capital or business experience, Rowe created a company that enabled her to achieve all those goals. Using the story of Eco-Bags Products as a case study, Rowe takes you step-by-step through the process of creating a successful tiny business. She shows how to test your concept, convey your values, prepare for upturns and downturns, manage your money, create alliances, and more, always staying true to the ´´tiny” ethos. You´ll learn how to grow sustainably, practice patience, and be consistent and persistent with what you stand for. Featuring cartoons and illustrations by New Yorker cartoonist Julian Rowe, The Magic of Tiny Business is a breath of fresh air for business owners and entrepreneurs who want the freedom and autonomy of owning their own business without compromising their personal values. 1. Language: English. Narrator: Sharon Rowe. Audio sample: http://samples.audible.de/bk/acx0/113452/bk_acx0_113452_sample.mp3. Digital audiobook in aax.

It was a time when anything seemed possible, instant wealth, glittering fame, fabulous luxury, and for a run of magical weeks in the spring and summer of 1920, Charles Ponzi made it all come true. Promising to double investors´ money in three months, the dapper, charming Ponzi raised the "rob Peter to pay Paul" scam to an art form and raked in millions at his office in downtown Boston. Ponzi´s Scheme is the amazing true story of the irresistible scoundrel who launched the most successful scheme of financial alchemy in modern history, and uttered the first roar of the Roaring Twenties. Ponzi may have been a charlatan, but he was also a wonderfully likable man. His intentions were noble, his manners impeccable, his sales pitch enchanting. Born to a genteel Italian family, he immigrated to the United States with big dreams but no money. Only after he became hopelessly enamored of a stenographer named Rose Gnecco and persuaded her to marry him did Ponzi light on the means to make his dreams come true. His true motive was not greed but love. With rich narrative skill, Mitchell Zuckoff conjures up the feverish atmosphere of Boston during the weeks when Ponzi´s bubble grew bigger and bigger. At the peak of his success, Ponzi was taking in more than $2 million a week. And then his house of cards came crashing down, thanks in large part to the relentless investigative reporting of Richard Grozier´s Boston Post. In Zuckoff´s hands, Ponzi is no mere swindler; instead he is appealing and magnetic, a colorful and poignant figure, someone who struggled his whole life to attain great wealth and who sincerely believed, to the very end, that he could have made good on his investment promises if only he´d had enough time. Ponzi is a classic American tale of immigrant life and the dream of success, and the unexpectedly moving story of a man who, for a fleeting, illusory moment, attained it all. 1. Language: English. Narrator: David Birney. Audio sample: http://samples.audible.de/bk/rand/000565/bk_rand_000565_sample.mp3. Digital audiobook in aax.

A woman who can´t let go of her past.... Melanie Addario has been in emotional limbo since her boyfriend disappeared two years ago. Now a secret admirer is coaxing her well-protected heart out of hiding, making her question if she should wait for a man who may never come back, or if it´s finally time to open herself to new possibilities. Just as she´s beginning to make progress, a self-proclaimed fortune-teller throws Melanie for a loop when the other woman suggests her admirer is none other than her long-lost boyfriend, Army Lieutenant Greg Mora. Will the man she once loved really come back into her life, or is the fortune-teller way off base? A man who must fight for his future.... Rafael Delacruz never meant to become a secret admirer. When he left the first gift on Melanie´s doorstep, he had every intention of finally asking out the blonde bombshell who´d attracted his attention years before. But the very next day, she was asking him for a job, and there was no way he was going to send her away. Now he´s Melanie´s boss, an arrangement that has him firmly pressed between his desires and responsibility. When the owner of Crescent Moon puts the vineyard on the market for a small fortune, Moon Lake outsider, Rafael, is forced to find the backing of an investor to buy the business he has come to love. But someone is trying to sabotage operations at the vineyard, putting his plans for Crescent Moon and his hopes for a relationship with Melanie in jeopardy. As Rafael works to solve the mystery of the vineyard saboteur, loyalties will be tested as shadows from the past rise up to be counted, forcing both Melanie and Rafael to choose between that which is given freely and that which can only be hoped for. Will they be able to separate friends from enemies before it´s too late, or will they lose the vineyard - and each other - forever? 1. Language: English. Narrator: Eva Kaminsky. Audio sample: http://samples.audible.de/bk/acx0/043231/bk_acx0_043231_sample.mp3. Digital audiobook in aax.